Albanian Football Forum

Been noticing that Tare's kid is scoring in Primavera. That's an amateur league for kids, but maybe an eye to keep on that he turns out like Strakosha.

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 6:36 pm It's quite obvious why Superliga produces donkeys. Most of the fields look like they were just plowed. Plus when there's just no sporting culture, people will always try to compensate with physicality.

I guess from diaspora there's been players like Shaqiri and Januzaj that are "creative", they just never hit the pinnacle of their sport.

It's a diaspora thing too. Januzaj is an extremely rare exception. Shaqiri too but Shaqiri has a lot of bulldog in his game.

If you look at all the best Albanian players in the top leagues they are all defenders and midfield destroyers. Djimsiti, Hysaj, Kumbulla, Bare, Xhaka brothers, Behrami, Dzemaili, Rrahmani, Mustafi etc etc

It's an Albanian thing. Just has to be.

Dallku wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:09 pm

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 6:36 pm It's quite obvious why Superliga produces donkeys. Most of the fields look like they were just plowed. Plus when there's just no sporting culture, people will always try to compensate with physicality.

I guess from diaspora there's been players like Shaqiri and Januzaj that are "creative", they just never hit the pinnacle of their sport.

It's a diaspora thing too. Januzaj is an extremely rare exception. Shaqiri too but Shaqiri has a lot of bulldog in his game.

If you look at all the best Albanian players in the top leagues they are all defenders and midfield destroyers. Djimsiti, Hysaj, Kumbulla, Bare, Xhaka brothers, Behrami, Dzemaili, Rrahmani, Mustafi etc etc

It's an Albanian thing. Just has to be.

That's cause physical players a dime a dozen. You're assuming the ratio is 50/50. Creative players are always rare no matter where you go.

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:12 pm

Dallku wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:09 pm

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 6:36 pm It's quite obvious why Superliga produces donkeys. Most of the fields look like they were just plowed. Plus when there's just no sporting culture, people will always try to compensate with physicality.

I guess from diaspora there's been players like Shaqiri and Januzaj that are "creative", they just never hit the pinnacle of their sport.

It's a diaspora thing too. Januzaj is an extremely rare exception. Shaqiri too but Shaqiri has a lot of bulldog in his game.

If you look at all the best Albanian players in the top leagues they are all defenders and midfield destroyers. Djimsiti, Hysaj, Kumbulla, Bare, Xhaka brothers, Behrami, Dzemaili, Rrahmani, Mustafi etc etc

It's an Albanian thing. Just has to be.

That's cause physical players a dime a dozen. You're assuming the ratio is 50/50. Creative players are always rare no matter where you go.

Even if it's not 50/50 it sure as hell shouldn't be 0/100 like Albania.

Even small countries like Macedonia, Armenia have more creative/attackers in top leagues than defenders. Where is our Mkhitaryan? our Elmas? our Pjanic?

All countries have their own traditions/characteristics. For example Romanians are known for technical players. So are Yugos. Albanians by nature are extremely anti-football.

Albanians are shorter on average than Slavs.

There have been “technical” players like Kace but they are lacking the physical tools to succeed at a high level. It is all about having a balance of traits and this is where the height plays a big factor.

A short but physical man (Xhaka, Abrashi) will have an easier time transitioning to professional football than a finesse type midget (Kace).

Dallku wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:29 pm Even if it's not 50/50 it sure as hell shouldn't be 0/100 like Albania.

Even small countries like Macedonia, Armenia have more creative/attackers in top leagues than defenders. Where is our Mkhitaryan? our Elmas? our Pjanic?

All countries have their own traditions/characteristics. For example Romanians are known for technical players. So are Yugos. Albanians by nature are extremely anti-football.

Yes, Albanian player development is that bad. Probably on par with Lithuania or Estonia or something. Even the league itself relies heavily on foreign players from Africa/Yugoslavia. This is a country that has never won an olympic medal.

If you wanted creative players look at communism era. Panajot Pano, Sokol Kushta, Loro Borici. They weren't world class, but they were much more creative than modern players today.

Princ wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:49 pm Albanians are shorter on average than Slavs.

There have been “technical” players like Kace but they are lacking the physical tools to succeed at a high level. It is all about having a balance of traits and this is where the height plays a big factor.

A short but physical man (Xhaka, Abrashi) will have an easier time transitioning to professional football than a finesse type midget (Kace).

Looking at Kace's height, is like looking at Allen Iverson and saying black people are short. The only way a guy that height can make it is if he's technical. Otherwise he wouldn't be a pro player.

This is a systemic issue more than anything. Januzaj/Shaqiri represents those foreign-raised players that got around it.

Iverson is 6'0

Pjetër wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 12:18 amIverson is 6'0

Lol, yeah his listed height. We know NBA players get measured with shoes on and an extra few inches.

You can’t really compare diaspora players to domestic player development. Diaspora players (more so the Ksoovars) have technical players like some of you guys mentioned and always have developed them. They just didn’t have the mental fortitude to be elite players (Shaq and Januzaj) or just peaked (Mehmedi) and some other ones just flopped hard after their big move like Tarashaj. There’s other names I’m obviously forgetting.

In countries with bad development physical players always make it out. The technical side of the game really needs strong training from a young age and that requires investment and professionalism. Since the infrastructure is so bad the technical players never develop and only the physical players excel in the youth ranks and get promoted to senior teams. It’s why African teams always do well in the youth tournaments but end up being mediocre or bad in senior tournaments.

I wanna say some of this is changing with the rise of more academia and private academies but I could be wrong. It seemed like 10-20 years ago the only players were getting developed is through the superliga teams youth set ups and there wasn’t any private academies. Now it kinda seems like the best players are developed in private academies then transfer. I’m thinking of Akademia e futbollit and some others that Jupi, Bulku and some former players have created.

Dallku wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:29 pm

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:12 pm

Dallku wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:09 pm

It's a diaspora thing too. Januzaj is an extremely rare exception. Shaqiri too but Shaqiri has a lot of bulldog in his game.

If you look at all the best Albanian players in the top leagues they are all defenders and midfield destroyers. Djimsiti, Hysaj, Kumbulla, Bare, Xhaka brothers, Behrami, Dzemaili, Rrahmani, Mustafi etc etc

It's an Albanian thing. Just has to be.

That's cause physical players a dime a dozen. You're assuming the ratio is 50/50. Creative players are always rare no matter where you go.

Even if it's not 50/50 it sure as hell shouldn't be 0/100 like Albania.

Even small countries like Macedonia, Armenia have more creative/attackers in top leagues than defenders. Where is our Mkhitaryan? our Elmas? our Pjanic?

All countries have their own traditions/characteristics. For example Romanians are known for technical players. So are Yugos. Albanians by nature are extremely anti-football.

Shqiperia ka numrin me te vogel te futbollistave per koke banori ne Europe, trajnerat shqiptar qe punonin ne Kosove habiteshin per numrin e madh te femijeve neper shkollat e futbollit dhe Kosova eshte shume keq krahasuar me vendet tjera te Europes. Si Mkhitaryan, Pjanic apo Elmas kan fillu me u aktivizu si titullar ne moshen 16 vjecare ne kampionatet respektive ndersa futbollisti i fundit ofenziv qe eshte aktivizu ne Shqiperi si 16 vjecar me duket se eshte Odise Roshi. Per futbollin shqiptar eshte emergjente qe per disa vite me vendos ndalese aktivizimi per futbollistet e huaj mbi 23 vjec dhe te pakten 3 futbollista nen 21 vjec te jene me detyrim ne fushen e lojes per gjitha kampionatet kombetare.